TPLF Expert in siphoning off humanitarian aid from civilian population: Former European diplomat

Addis Ababa, June 5, 2022 (FBC) – The TPLF has kept its habit in siphoning humanitarian aid from the victim population in Tigray region, former European diplomat Simo Parviainen said.

The diplomat told ENA that TPLF is expert in using hunger as a weapon and aid diversion by taking its advantages of humanitarian operation for the purpose of military conflicts.

Recalling the humanitarian supplies of diversion by the TPLF leaders in the 1980s from the civilians, Parviainen said they are now also taking assistance from women, children and elderly.

“The TPLF is expert in using hunger as a weapon. They were perfect to this skill already in the 1980s when they were fighting against Colonel Mengistu Hailemariam. They are also using hunger as a weapon with their own people against the other side,” he noted.

It is well known that TPLF diverted 95 percent of the 100 million USD aid raised to fight famine in northern Ethiopia and spent it on weapons during the 1985 famine in Ethiopia.

The former diplomat also appreciated the Ethiopian government’s humanitarian truce declared in March 2022 when blockade of aid has been a kind of disinformation success for TPLF.

“The TPLF says that Ethiopia is blocking aid. Now, we have the UN saying, Ethiopia is cooperating where flights are going on there; things are checked and aid is flowing. So it was the propaganda issue that says Ethiopia is blocking aid.”

On the contrary, the terrorist group has been  obstructing humanitarian convoys in different occasions and diverting foods to its fighters, he noted.

“Actually, the TPLF leaders are obstructing aid; but they are also siphoning from the civilian population — women, children and elderly. They (take the aid meant for civilians) for the military, fighters and  commanders. Let us also remember that it is not only food, but they have also taken 1,000 trucks, fuel, and medication given to the fighter personnel.”

According to him, there is also a dominant victim narrative that is shaped by the TPLF in relation to relief supplies.

“There is also this propaganda in the media that Tigray is under siege. But they are completely silent about what is going on in Afar and Amhara, which is a very serious situation where millions of people have been left without aid. They are lobbying the donors to give aid to Tigray, but we don’t hear about Afar and Amhara.”

Parviainen finally called on the mainstream media to correct the false narrative that has been set by reporting the truth of the humanitarian crisis in Afar and Amhara in addition to Tigray.